Canada Hygienist

The Sunstar Foundation was established in 1977 to improve oral care among the general public. For more than three decades, the foundation has actively promoted dental health. In 2003, the Sunstar Foundation established The World Perio Research Award to honor researchers and clinicians who have furthered our understanding of the relationship between periodontal diseases and systemic health. In 2007, the foundation established The World Dental Hygienist Awards to recognize and encourage dental hygiene professionals and students to positively impact the dental community, their profession, and the general public. JoAnn R. Gurenlian, RDH, MS, PhD, has provided an insightful overview of the Sunstar Foundation’s dental hygiene-related efforts that we hope inspires you in your work to improve your patients’ oral health.

Dental hygienists around the world work to advance their profession on a regular basis. Because their contributions to the science of dental hygiene and the improvement of the public’s oral health often go uncelebrated, the Sunstar Foundation launched the World Dental Hygienist Awards a decade ago. These awards recognize dental hygienists who have significantly impacted dental hygiene science, patients, the community, and the general public. The awards are presented every 3 years to an individual or group chosen by a selection committee, and are announced at the International Symposium on Dental Hygiene (ISDH), which is hosted by the International Federation of Dental Hygienists (IFDH).

The World Dental Hygienist Awards include two categories: research and activity/project. Practicing dental hygienists and students are eligible to apply for the awards. The research category may include both quantitative and qualitative studies that contribute to the body of knowledge in dental hygiene. Award entries are based on unpublished, original research papers. For the activity/project category, entries should provide details of activities that have impacted patients, the community, or the general public. Individuals or groups of dental hygienists who have notable accomplishments in oral health promotion, including counseling, education, innovation, prevention, and treatment, should consider applying for this award category. As part of the entry, the applicant must provide evidence of measurable outcomes that demonstrated improved health.

Name: Tjeerd Blom, RDH, BoH
From: Holland
Award: Student Research Category
Year: 2013Before Blom decided to enter his research into the World Dental Hygienist Awards, his primary goal was to write an article for publication in a scientific journal. He asked Dagmar Slot, RDH, MSc, one of his dental hygiene professors, to mentor him in the process. Blom decided to study the effect of mouthrinses on oral malodor. He discovered that there was little evidence to support using a mouthrinse to treat this common malady. As he completed the study, Slot encouraged him to submit his research for the student category.When asked about his experience as a World Dental Hygienist Award winner, Blom noted, “Giving an international lecture about my review and meeting dental hygienists from all over the world was a great honor. The welcome I received from the Sunstar Foundation made me feel like an international pop star. The beautiful statuette itself is a piece of art that still sits on my desk. This award gave me the chance to share my knowledge, provided me with opportunities to present internationally, and encouraged me to do more research for the international dental hygiene community.”

Name: Sherry L. Priebe, DipDH, BDSc (DH), RDH, MSc
From: British Columbia, Canada
Award: Research Category
Year: 2010Sherry L. Priebe, DipDH, BDSc (DH), RDH, MSc, received a World Dental Hygienist Award in 2010 for her work on oral cancer—a global public health problem—in Vietnam. She focused on how the lack of awareness of cultural habits—specifically tobacco, alcohol, and betel nut use— can cause oral cancer. Priebe’s goal was to examine the cultural risk indicators of oral squamous cell carcinoma and the awareness of oral cancer in Vietnam. The major finding of her study was that the awareness of oral cancer and the link to tobacco, alcohol, and betel nut use was low, and that late diagnosis of oral cancer had not changed in more than 20 years.”Since receiving this prestigious award, I have embraced the vital need of further research conducted by dental hygienists and the need to promote oral cancer awareness worldwide. I have been invited to speak both nationally and internationally about the urgency of oral health promotion to save lives,” Priebe shared. “As I’m convinced that further education is critical for my career, I am working on a doctoral degree in dental hygiene. I also am planning a volunteer trip to Vietnam through the University of British Columbia in 2016. As people migrate around the world, they bring cultural habits with them, and we, as dental hygienists, often are the ones who save their lives by noticing lesions related to their oral habits,” she said.

Click to view

The Sunstar Foundation celebrates the success of the winners with cash awards and donations in the recipients’ names issued to a project and/or dental hygiene program of their choosing to support additional research. One representative from each category (research or activity/project) will receive an award presented at the ISDH, as well as full registration and a travel allowance to the symposium. The winning representative will present his/her paper at the ISDH. The prize money is further

QUALIFICATIONS FOR ENTRY

Table 2. click to view

The World Dental Hygienist Awards are open to licensed dental hygienists or associate, bachelor, or master level dental hygiene students. Entries will be accepted through December 31, 2015; the awards will be presented at the ISDH to be held June 23-25, 2016, in Basel, Switzerland. Table 2 lists the requirements for submission.

Table 3. click to view

Winners will be announced in the International Journal of Dental Hygiene and on its website: ifdh.org, in addition to the websites of the Sunstar Foundation and Sunstar companies. More details about the awards are available at: sunstarawards.com.

Dental hygienists working in a variety of settings and projects of all types have been honored by the World Dental Hygienist Awards. Table 3 lists the previous award winners and more details are provided about each recipient and his or her projects/activities in the sidebars.

Names: Annamaria Genovesi, RDH, DHA, and Olivia Marchisio, RDH, PhD
From: Istituto Stomatologico Tirreno-Versilia General Hospital, Italy
Award: Project
Year: 2010Annamaria Genovesi, RDH, DHA, and Olivia Marchisio, RDH, PhD, wanted to work together to better the oral hygiene of patients with cerebral lesions in a neurorehabilitation department with the hopes of improving their quality of life. Genovesi and Marchisio’s oral hygiene project was directed primarily at medical staff and caregivers. Findings showed improvement in terms of reduction in bleeding on probing, gingival hypertrophy, and edema. Genovesi and Marchisio concluded that teamwork and a multiprofessional approach played a fundamental role in the rehabilitation of patients with acquired cerebral lesions.Marchisio commented, “The award renewed our energy to continue to put passion in what we do every day. Dental hygienists should be encouraged to participate in the World Dental Hygienist Awards in order to share different research experiences worldwide. It is a moment where we can help ourselves and our profession grow.”

CONCLUSION

The Sunstar Foundation is proud to make an impact in the dental hygiene profession through the World Dental Hygienist Awards. The foundation encourages dental hygienists to consider entering the awards process in order to receive recognition for their work, as well as to attend the ISDH and meet colleagues from around the world.

Names: Mário Rui Araújo, RDH, BSDH, MPsych, and Cristina Cádima, RDH, BDH
From: Directorate-General of Health, Portugal
Award: Project Category
Year: 2013The project of Mário Rui Araújo, RDH, BSDH, MPsych, and Cristina Cádima, RDH, BDH, focused on SOBE, which stands for oral health school libraries and means “up” in Portuguese. Their goal was to go “up” by furthering the reach of oral health promotion. To accomplish this, they worked with teachers and industry sponsors to create different types of educational materials in which the heroes were oral health professionals. With their project, Araújo and Cádima were able to realize a 50% increase in the introduction of oral health themes in schools and more than 150,000 new children started brushing their teeth at school.Araújo commented on winning the World Dental Hygienist Award, “It was an amazing sensation, like when you climb a mountain and reach the peak. We felt such enthusiasm, as well as the serenity generated from accomplishing our mission and the satisfaction that we did something unique and good for others. We were speechless! What made us truly proud was the fact that this was a global award. It provided the opportunity to share what we were doing internationally with the hopes that it would motivate others to make a difference. We are very proud of receiving this award and becoming part of this amazing network of dental hygienists around the globe.”

JoANN R. GURENLIAN, RDH, MS, PhD, has been active in the clinical practice, academia, and politics of dental hygiene for more than 38 years. She is a professor and graduate program director in the Department of Dental Hygiene at Idaho State University in Pocatello, where she is working on implementing a doctoral degree in dental hygiene. She is a past president of the American Dental Hygienists’ Association and the current president of the International Federation of Dental Hygienists. Gurenlian also is president and CEO of Gurenlian & Associates, a seminar and consulting service focused on health care. She is a Dimensions of Dental Hygiene Editorial Advisory Board member and the 2015 recipient of The Esther Wilkins Lifetime Achievement Award.

Dental hygienist and UBC alumna Sherry Priebe, MSc 2009, BDSc 2003, is at the top of her profession—she has recently been awarded the World Dental Hygienist Award in the research category by the International Federation of Dental Hygienists.

Established by the Sunstar Foundation for Oral Health Promotion, the award recognizes dental hygienists who make a great contribution to the dental community, their profession or to the general public. J.P. Squire writes in the Daily Courier, a Kelowna, BC newspaper that: “The award recognized her research into cultural habits on oral health and oral cancer in Vietnam. Her research was a collaboration with an oncology hospital in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, and UBC.” Priebe, who practices dental hygiene in Kelowna, states in the story: “I was thrilled to be recognized for my research on such an imperative subject. My passion has always been to assist people to achieve optimum oral health through education, research and clinical practice.” Priebe’s passion has been a long and exciting journey in all these areas.

For Priebe, working as a registered dental hygienist was rewarding but she knew something was lacking, she wanted more from her professional life, and she realized that education is the way to succeed. She received a bachelor of dental science (Dental Hygiene) in 2003 from UBC’s Dental Hygiene Degree Program and it was during this time she explored the possibility of international oral health promotion. To encourage her project Bonnie Craig, professor and director of the Dental Hygiene Degree Program, recommended she explore the faculty’s international programs.

Priebe looked to Dr. Christopher Zed, associate dean, Strategic and External Affairs and head, Postgraduate and Hospital Programs, and his visionary leadership in Dentistry’s General Practice Residency Program. She was particularly inspired by the program’s rotation in Vietnam and jumped at Zed’s recommendation that she travel to Vietnam according to her proposal to assist the project.

In Vietnam Priebe witnessed the oral health care situation as being multi-faceted and was intrigued by the challenges in this resource-poor and less-developed country. “The personal needs of the people including the unawareness of the basics of oral health and information about oral cancer motivated me to open my heart to the people of Vietnam,” she says. With her open heart Priebe also found the inspiration to study more: “I made contact with Dr. Jolanta Aleksejūnienė, assistant professor in Dentistry, who agreed to be my academic and extremely capable supervisor who was not intimidated by international research.” Priebe—who continued her studies and research as a graduate student from 2003 to 2009—understands the Vietnamese lifestyle risk habits are severe and her research discusses the extremes and problems of their oral health.

Her research reflects UBC’s 2010 goals of global citizenship, scholarship and the promotion of the values of a civil and sustainable society. The partnership between UBC and the university and oncology hospital in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, provided an opportunity for research of advanced oral pathology that is highly prevalent in Asian populations. “My mission statement as an oral health professional was also realized ‘to assist people to attain optimum oral health through research, education and clinical practice’,” she says.

Her six-year study and the key contributions of her research have significant benefits to the oral cancer patients of the oncology hospital in Ho Chi Minh City, the dental community in Vietnam and to the general public; Priebe anticipates her research results and discussion will influence social policy changes by the government of Vietnam.

Committed to sharing her experience and the transfer of knowledge internationally, Priebe has published articles in the Journal of Medicine at the University of Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, titled “Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma and Cultural Risk Habits in Patients at the Oncology Hospital in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam”, in the Canadian Journal of Dental Hygiene, titled “Oral Cancer and Cultural Factors in Asia” in 2008 and presently online and now in press in the International Journal of Dental Hygiene, titled “Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma and Cultural Risk Habits in Vietnam” in August 2010.

As an advocate to act on knowledge, Priebe gives presentations to colleagues about how trends and events in other countries affect their professional lives. “The rates of oral cancer are increasing and we have a responsibility to our patients to make them aware of oral risk habits as they affect global health.”

Priebe is honoured to receive the prestigious World Dental Hygienist Award in research at the International Symposium on Dental Hygiene 2010 this past July in Glasgow, Scotland. “The pleasure and honour was mine to be able to address and research such an imminent issue of oral cancer in our world with such capable and dedicated dental professionals from Vietnam,” she says.